Paul Burchill
| birth_place = Guildford, Surrey, England, UK | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = | trainer = FWA Training Academy | debut = August 2002 | retired = }} Paul Birchall (October 8, 1979), better known by his ring name Paul Burchill, is an English professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he signed after training and debuting for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance in his home country. Wrestling career Frontier Wrestling Alliance (2002–2004) Birchall is a former primary school teacher from Surrey, but got into professional wrestling in 2001 after walking into the Frontier Wrestling Alliance's (FWA) Academy and quickly impressing the man running the camp, Mark Sloan. While training at the Academy under Sloan's guidance, Birchall made his debut in August 2002 using the slightly modified spelling of his name Paul Burchill. In mid-2002, Burchill began to appear in the FWA by interfering in matches or before them, making unscheduled appearances and beating other wrestlers leading to October at Uprising when he took out both members of The New Breed (Ashe and Curve) singlehandedly before their match. He went on interfering in matches, even taking out all four competitors in a four-way match until May when he made his first scheduled appearance at Frontiers of Honour, jointly held between FWA and Ring of Honor (ROH). Debuting with manager 'Twisted Genius' Dean Ayass he defeated the tag team of Double Dragon (Raj Jordon and Ross Jordan), in his first sanctioned match by double knockout. Burchill went on an undefeated streak in handicap matches against tag teams for the rest of the year, often running into the Duke of Danger (who he'd taken out in the four way) and Andy Simmons, part of the aristocrat themed group Hampton Court. He cemented this winning streak in a moment voted thirteenth on the FWA's Top 20 Moments when he interrupted the Duke's thrashing of peasants (squashing jobbers) at Hotwired in September and performed a double rolling fireman's carry slam before debuting his C-4 finishing move. By the end of 2003 he was voted Rookie of the Year by both Total Wrestling and 1 Stop Wrestling. His winning streak would go untarnished until mid-2004 at June's Carpe Diem event where Simmons continued to resist being pinned or submitting to Burchill. Frustrated, Burchill went up the ramp to talk to his manager Ayass but while there veteran Drew McDonald came from the back and hit him with a steel chair causing Burchill to lose via count out. Burchill gained some level of revenge when he teamed up with Terry Funk and Paul Travell to take on McDonald, Thunder and his first victim Ghosh at November's British Uprising III, receiving a standing ovation from the 1,800 fans in attendance as news broke that he had signed with American promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). A fortnight later at FWA's annual Gold Rush event he faced FWA British Heavyweight Champion Alex Shane in a non-title match, being pinned for the first time since training in the Academy in his last match. Other promotions (2004) On August 1, 2004, Burchill defeated Doug Williams and The Zebra Kid (Roy Bevis) in a No Holds Barred three-way match to become the International Wrestling Promotions (IWP) Heavyweight Champion. He would hold the title until November 6, when he lost a Falls Count Anywhere match to D'Lo Brown. In May 2004, Burchill made two appearances in Athletik Club Wrestling (ACW) in Germany losing in a tag team match to Jerry Lynn and Michael Kovac. Later that night he took part in a 22-man battle royal losing to fellow Brit Doug Williams. He returned in July for Summer Heat where he took on Patrick Shulz, who he had tagged with at the previous event, and won in a grudge match. Shulz, with his Made In Germany tag team partner Eric Shwarz, gained a return victory later that night over Burchill and Crazy Sexy Mike. World Wrestling Entertainment Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005–2008) Burchill briefly appeared in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in 2005 before his appearance on SmackDown, making it to the second round of a tournament for the OVW Television Championship. He also feuded briefly with Nick Nemeth, exchanging victories before winning an OVW Southern Tag Team Championship shot along with Seth Skyfire in a battle royal but the hastily assembled pair could not defeat The Blond Bombers (Tank and Chad Toland) in the next match. In January 2006 he began a feud with Ken Doane after Doane abandoned Burchill during a tag team match. The following week Burchill defeated Doane despite the presence of the rest of the Spirit Squad at ringside. He also had a brief angle where he interrupted a match to attack Shelly Martinez but instead carried her backstage and she was later seen wearing a pirate's wench outfit and chasing him to no avail. She would later attack Cherry Pie during his win over Deuce Shade. In September he won a battle royal for a shot at the OVW Heavyweight Championship but lost the match later that night. He earned another shot at the championship in December by defeating Seth Skyfire in a Christmas Presents match. A week later Chett the Jet beat Jacob Duncan for the championship at which point Burchill came to the ring and hit Chett with a steel chair, telling Danny Basham, the Troubleshooter, that he was the primary contender for the belt and demanded a match instantly thus ending 2006 with his first OVW Heavyweight Championship. He defended the belt frequently against both Chett and Duncan in 2007 and earned the nickname "Ripper" by repeatedly defeating them both but lost it on February 17 in his second defence against Cody Runnels. He won it back the next day from Rhodes. After more successful defences, Aaron "The Idol" Stevens won the belt from him on March 14. A rematch on April 18 ended in a double count-out but Burchill would not be appeased, interfering in Runnels' title shot to make the match a no contest and on May 9 he was given another shot at the title and won it for a third time. Two weeks later on May 23, a rematch between Burchill and Stevens went to a draw when both men simultaneously pinned each other, leading the title to be held up and vacated. A match for the vacant title was booked between Burchill, Stevens and Jay Bradley on June 1 with Bradley picking up the win. Burchill regained the belt later that month on June 27 but lost it on July 28 to Vladimir Kozlov In August, Burchill pinned Mark Henry in retaliation for Henry injuring him on SmackDown months prior. In November he defeated Stu Sanders by the referee's ten count but teamed with him the following week, eventually getting to the finals of a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship but losing the last match to Shawn Spears and Colt Cabana. In the first show of 2008 the team beat Cabana and Charles Evans to capture the titles. Around the same time he also began sending presents to Katie "The Kat" Lea as a secret admirer, eventually revealing himself when he helped her win her second OVW Women's Championship. His final appearance in OVW, on February 27, was in a four corners tag team match where he and Sanders lost their championship to Los Locos (Ramón and Raúl). Pirate character (2005–2006) After arriving in the US, Burchill was scouted by Tommy Dreamer and called up to the main roster in August 2005. He made his WWE debut on the August 27, 2005 episode of WWE Velocity, when he made a run-in in a match between fellow Englishman William Regal and Scotty 2 Hotty. Burchill quickly established an alliance with his countryman, helping Regal to beat down Scotty 2 Hotty. A week later he debuted on Friday Night SmackDown teaming with Regal to defeat Hotty and Funaki, when Scotty tapped out to Burchill's Royal Mutilation submission hold. The next week on SmackDown!, Burchill defeated Scotty 2 Hotty in a singles match in the same manner. After rising through the tag team ranks, Regal and Burchill were given a chance at the WWE Tag Team Championship in a Fatal Four Way match facing The Mexicools, MNM and champions L.O.D. 2005 (Road Warrior Animal and Heidenreich), but lost out to MNM. Regal and Burchill continued tagging together, mainly feuding with The Mexicools on Velocity while Regal often acted as a manager for Burchill during his singles matches. He lost to the debuting Lashley in mid-December, but bounced back with a win on Velocity, debuting his C-4 move in WWE, which aided him in a victory against the jobber John Xavier. In January he appeared in a 20-man battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship but was tossed out with a belly to belly suplex from eventual winner Kurt Angle. On the February 3, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Burchill and Regal told SmackDown! "network representative" Palmer Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion, Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traces back to the pirate Blackbeard and he wanted to do a pirate gimmick on SmackDown!. He followed through on this promise the following week when he appeared backstage dressed as a pirate, with a look similar to that of Johnny Depp's character from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Regal tried to convince Burchill to return to his former ruthless gimmick, while Burchill refused cementing him as a fan favorite. Burchill had his first match as a pirate on the March 10, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, making an elaborate entrance by swinging down to the floor on a rope. Burchill defeated Regal using the C-4 which was renamed Walk The Plank to suit the gimmick. After Regal continued to persuade Burchill to return to his former gimmick, the two were booked in a match where the loser would be forced to wear the winner's choice of clothing. Burchill won the match, forcing Regal to dress at his whim until Burchill lost another match, initially dressing him up as a buxom wench, and later in various costumes such as a chicken suit and a gorilla suit. Eventually, he made Regal dress up like a buccaneer in order to tag with him against Gymini on April 21. Burchill ended up abandoning Regal during the match, which led to Gymini picking up the victory. In early June, Burchill's popular pirate gimmick came to an end when Mark Henry, who was going on a storyline rampage, defeated Burchill and then assaulted him afterwards resulting in him being stretchered off SmackDown. He resurfaced on SmackDown in July 2007 as a pirate for a Mardi Gras party thrown by Edge, though he was not acknowledged. This time away from the ring was also used to develop a new gimmick to replace his pirate character on his return. This was done allegedly because Vince McMahon, who reportedly was not aware of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Johnny Depp's pirate character, believed the character should have thought he was a real pirate, acting more like the Carl Ouellet pirate character from the 1990s, and felt it could not work as a crowd favorite, despite the positive crowd reactions Burchill received. Burchill siblings (2008–2010) After appearing on Heat on several occasions, Burchill made his return to WWE television as a villain again with fellow FWA alumnus Katie Lea playing his on-screen sister during the February 11 episode of Raw, defeating Brian Kendrick. Continuing to appear on Heat, Burchill and Katie would occasionally appear on Raw in handicap matches. On May 26, Burchill assaulted Mr. Kennedy because he forced William Regal to leave Raw which led to a brief feud until Kennedy was drafted to SmackDown. After this, Burchill engaged in a brief feud with then Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston while Katie Lea feuded with Women's Champion Mickie James but despite defeating them in a tag team match, neither won their respective titles in singles matches. Following this, Burchill had a minimal on-air role, making brief appearances in squash matches to Batista and Jamie Noble. Burchill and Katie Lea were later both moved from Raw to the ECW brand on December 30, 2008, where Burchill lost to DJ Gabriel in his debut match for the brand. The Burchills were defeated in a mixed tag team match against Gabriel and Alicia Fox on January 13, 2009. On the February 3 edition of ECW, Burchill scored his first win as a member of the ECW brand by defeating Tommy Dreamer. Burchill competed sporadically for the next few months, failing to win any of his matches, before taking a hiatus in June 2009. He returned on the July 14 episode of ECW, losing to Yoshi Tatsu. By August, Burchill became embroiled in a rivalry with backstage interviewer Gregory Helms, who he accused of being a masked wrestler, The Hurricane (who Helms also portrayed). After several months of matches and attacks, the two finally agreed to settle the matter in a match on the November 17 episode of ECW, which saw Hurricane's mask put up against Burchill's career on the ECW brand. Despite many attempts, Burchill could not secure the pin and subsequently lost the match. Despite being fired, Burchill appeared on the December 3 episode of Superstars under a mask during The Hurricane's match with Zack Ryder, and subsequently attacked Hurricane, giving him the victory by disqualification. The following week on ECW, Burchill and Katie Lea, now sporting masks and calling themselves The Ripper and The Beautiful Nightmare (likely being 'supervillains' to match Hurricane's superhero gimmick), respectively, appeared in a backstage segment with General Manager Tiffany and asked for a contract, which Tiffany said they would receive if The Ripper could defeat The Hurricane the following week in a match. However, The Ripper was unmasked by Hurricane and subsequently defeated, resulting in Burchill and Katie remaining off ECW. After the closure of the ECW brand, Burchill was formally released by WWE on 26 February 2010. Independent circuit (2010–2014) On 8 May 2010, Burchill lost to A.J. Styles in a match for Pro Wrestling Syndicate. On 22 and 23 April 2011 Paul appeared at Heartland Wrestling Association and took part in "Heartland Cup 2011". He defeated Jesse Emerson in the first round match, but lost to Jake Crist in quarterfinals who later won the tournament. On November 3, 2012 at a CFW event Burchill faced Matt Hardy in a losing effort. on January 5, 2013 at Crossfire 2nd Anniversary Event, Rough Cut ( Burchill and David Young) (w/Jillian Hall) defeated Blink 2-4-7 (Derrick King and Tatt2) and lost to The Hot Shots (Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens) on the same night. on October 17, 2014 at the HOP:E FUTR 2 event, Burchill faced Zak Northern in a losing effort. on November 8, 2014 at a GHW event, Burchill defeated Stingray. Wrestling facts *'Finishing and signature moves' :*Burning Hammer :*C4/Walking The Plank :*Royal Mutilation :*Standing Shooting Star Press :*Curb Stomp :*Twisted Sister *'Nicknames' :*"The Ripper" *'Tag teams and stables' :*Paul Burchill & William Regal *'Managers' :*Katie Lea (WWE) :*Shelly Martinez (WWE) (2006) :*William Regal (2005) *'Theme music' :*You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" by Dope (OVW) :*Generator A (WWE) :*Generator B (WWE) Championships and accomplishments *'International Wrestling Promotions' **IWP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Ohio Valley Wrestling' **OVW Heavyweight Championship (4 times) **OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Stu Sanders Lucha de Apuesta record See also *Paul Burchill's event history External links * Paul Burchill profile at CAGEMATCH.net zh:Paul Burchill Category:English wrestlers Category:Male wrestlers Category:Living people Category:1979 births Category:2002 debuts Category:All Star Wrestling alumni Category:Athletik Club Wrestling alumni Category:Crossfire Wrestling alumni Category:European Wrestling Promotion alumni Category:Force Francophone de Catch alumni Category:Frontier Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Futureshock Wrestling alumni Category:FWA Academy alumni Category:Garage Pro Wrestling alumni Category:International Wrestling Promotions alumni Category:Italian Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni Category:Premier Promotions alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Syndicate alumni Category:Ring of Honor alumni Category:Westside Xtreme Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Wrestle Zone Wrestling alumni Category:German Hurricane Wrestling alumni Category:Heartland Wrestling Association alumni Category:House Of Pain: Evolution alumni